i am not an economist.
this video helps explain to me what everyone else seems to understand already.
it’s 11 minutes, but it’s fun and very enlightening for someone like me.
…someone who isn’t an economist.
enjoy!
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/3261363[/vimeo]
i’m surprised i haven’t seen this around the blogosphere more. maybe i just don’t read enough blogs…(yeah…that isn’t true…)
ESPN has a nifty little page called the ESPN Salary Crunch.
you head over, input your annual salary, then everyone’s favorite sports network stacks your income against some of baseball’s big stars.
specifically, it tells you how long it takes players like Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Johan Santana and Mark Teixeira (to name a few) to earn your annual salary, broken down by at-bats, home runs, and other such statistics.
then, (my favorite part) it tells you how many years you must work at your current salary to make what the athlete in question earns in 1 year.
raises a whole host of questions and thoughts, but for now i just thought i’d pass it on.
what sort of thoughts does it spark for you?
HT: mr. munoz
merry christmas.
today, you can do a little more shopping (aren’t you glad???).
it’s easy and secure and it will yield wonderful benefits to the recipient.
we’ve talked a few times this month about Gospel For Asia and Samaritan’s Purse, and i’d like to talk about them once again.
i want to encourage every believer who reads this post to pray for the work of the Gospel in the 3rd world.
i also want to encourage you to think about if you can fit a gift or two for one of these organizations into your budget this year.
@Samaritan’s Purse, 89% of your donations go to the ministry.i that’s an amazing number.
@Gospel For Asia, 100% of your donations go directly to the field. ii 100%. every time. that’s a miraculous number.
today we’re highlighting a few $5 gifts that can make a difference in the life of someone on the other side of the world, a gift that can further the work of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
buy a musical instrument for a native missionary team – $5
buy a blanket for a cold family – $5
buy VBS materials for a local village – $5
provide a week’s worth of milk for a hungry child – $4
these are just a few, simple gifts that we can give.
Gospel For Asia and Samaritan’s Purse have a wide variety of ministries that you can partner with. they range from gifts like those above (some for as little as $1) to large projects like digging wells or building a church (upwards of $20,000).
kelly and i plan to buy our last christmas presents tomorrow from these wonderful organizations. we feel led in a few ways, but specifically the Lord has put it on our heart to partner with Samaritan’s Purse to rescue a child out of bondage and abuse:
“Each year, over a million children fall prey to human traffickers. Some are forced to serve as soldiers, work in sweatshops, or perform menial labor—but many more are enslaved in the worst kind of exploitation and abuse. Samaritan’s Purse works through Christian partners worldwide to help children avoid exploitation and to rehabilitate those who have endured bondage. As we share the Good News of Jesus Christ, many are discovering ‘the glorious freedom of the children of God’ (Romans 8:21). With your donation, a vulnerable child can receive the compassionate care, safe shelter, training, and counseling needed for a fresh start on a new life.”
oh how the Lord loves you and me.
have a wonderful christmas.
maranatha.
some christmas giving highlights for your holiday season.
Gospel For Asia – buy a blanket for a needy family
$5
Samaritan’s Purse – provide clothing for those in need
$25
Gospel For Asia – provide vocational training for a Dalit
$80
Samaritan’s Purse – help build a mission hospital in the 3rd world
$250
giving is wonderful.
the internet makes it easy.
merry christmas.
and behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.’ Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’
[ Matthew 8:1-2 ]
india.
it’s considered by many as a bustling, developing economic power. it has industry and science, even bollywood.
but, underneath the innovation and industrialization we find this:
They are approximately 300 million people who are deemed “untouchable” and comprise the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system. Since the origin of this system 3,000 years ago, the Dalits have lived in bondage to the code of caste. They have been unable to escape their fate and are deprived of even the most basic liberties and privileges, including the freedom to decide where to live, work and worship.i
just to put that number in perspective, as of 2007 the population of the united states was 301 million people.ii
300 million people deemed untouchable, like the lepers of Galilee. relegated to a life of burden and isolation.
Bonded labor is prevalent among Dalits, even their children, who often work in slave-like conditions to pay off family debt. With estimates as high as 150 million working children, India has the largest child labor force in the world. Abuse is common, with long hours in miserable conditions and no hope of escape. This is the fate of the Dalits.iii
in many cases the ‘family debt’ is what keeps these dalit children in slavery.
i had my breath taken away one sunday when i saw a GFA film which revealed that in some cases the total of that debt is as little as $13.00.iv
living in the land of opportunity it’s hard to imagine how a caste system can operate, but for the dalit, it is the only life available…until now.
in 2001 Gospel For Asia began reaching out specifically to the dalit caste through a ministry called Bridge of Hope. now, over 42,000 children are being bought out of bondage, given an education, school uniforms, medical care, having physical needs met, and, most importantly, are being presented with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the God who will touch them, the God who is not afraid to touch anyone.
we can partner with Gospel For Asia in touching the dalit caste.
check this out…are you ready for it?
of any money donated to GFA, 100% goes to the field.
100%
not 50% or 75%
while GFA’s primary goal is to plant churches, the native missionaries also work to dig wells, alleviate illiteracy (as high as 90% in many dalit communitiesv ), establish radio programs, outreaches to regional slums and muslim communities, building homes, churches and Bible colleges, and much more.vi
you can be a part of touching the untouchable. GFA makes it easy.
One Time Donation – any amount at all. you can designate it toward a specific need or simply send it where it is most needed.
Sponsor A Missionary – $30 a month supports a native missionary in some of the most unreached parts of the world.
Sponsor A Child – $28 a month supports a child in the Bridge of Hope program.
for more on Gospel For Asia visit this page, or visit their official site.
above all, join us in praying for the work being done in india, especially in the dalit community.
our God is the God who reaches, cleanses and embraces.
praise the Lord.
the application
Christianity is about relationship, not religion. Christianity is about the individual and his Lord, his Lover, his Savior. Christianity is about a love life with God. the FIRST love, the passionate, zealous love of the engagement. Jesus said that He desires that we have life more abundantly. Jesus didn’t die for us so that we can live a life of guilt or obligation, He died for us because He loves us. and now He wants us to love Him back.
you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Luke 10:27
there it is: the greatest commandment. i am always totally blown away at the word choice. not worship the Lord, not serve the Lord, but love the Lord.
let’s talk about our neighbor first. i can love my hypothetical next door neighbor who has landscaping needs by paying for him to have a lawn service come and mow his lawn once a week. or, i can love my neighbor by mowing his lawn myself with out being paid (and without paying anything out). or i can love my neighbor by not complaining when his lawn looks shabby next to mine. which love is better? which love is God’s plan for my neighbor? each resolution is situational, relational and personal. if God needs a lawn mowed, He’ll direct us. if He needs a lawn unmowed, He will direct us. we do not sit idly by, but as we are looking for ways to serve and to minister we MUST wait for the leading. Acts 16:6-10 illustrates the astounding principle that ministry and service must be led by God and born of love, despite what the perceived need may be and despite what our own desires may be. Needs are real, desires are real, but it is the leading of the Holy Spirit that we must act upon if we hope to share a faith, a Gospel and a love that is more than just a clanging cymbal.
now let’s talk about our love with God. our love-life with the Lord is not about guilt, it’s not about obligation. when Christmas rolls around i’m not going to buy my darling wife a gift and write on the card, “honey, i know i have to buy you this gift, and i spent $53.16 on it, therefore i have proven my love for you once for all, or until next year when i have to do it again.” this is why God has left ‘grey’ areas for us to work out in our Christianity…because He is romantic. He desires that we chase after Him, that we petition Him, that we call to Him, that we adore Him. that we search Him out and discover His deepest heart.
giving of your wealth is not about covering your bases…it’s about investing in your spiritual marriage. i give things to my wife because i love her. i can give thoughtless things, even expensive things, but if they don’t convey my love for her then what’s the point? i could buy her something i think she wants, or something another woman might want, but if i never ask her what she wants i am bound to miss my mark in giving the gift. the closer i get to her the more i realize what things she really enjoys, what things characterize her inner heart, and, more importantly, the closer i get to her the MORE i want to give her out of my love, out of my excitement and out of the abundance of joy in our relationship.
God Himself speaks of our relationship with Him being like a marriage. in fact, our marriages are to illustrate our relationship with God, not the other way around. remember we’re talking about a God who created a universe and then a planet and then a garden so that He could fellowship with a man and a woman. beyond that, God provided salvation for any person who is willing to accept it. beyond that, God provides a romance for us to enter into with Him.
the more we stop to think about our God the more we should be overcome with a desire to give back to Him, to burst forth in embrace and elation, to give Him amazing tokens of our love for Him. the more we think about God the more love should cultivate in our hearts…and, as we talked about tonight at our wednesday night service, the more we love God the more we will love the same things as God. God loves humans. God loves the poor. God loves self-sacrifice and He loves serving others. God loves meeting needs, healing sickness, strengthening weakness, restoring damages and much more.
how then could God set a specific limit on how much or in what method we give back to Him? how could He ever establish the one definitive list of works for us to accomplish in order to prove our ‘love’ for Him? it is inconceivable when we recognize our Elohim as the Lover that He is, the Romantic that He is.
we are God’s pearl of great price! Jesus Christ doesn’t want us to come to Him with our list of accomplishments, He wants us to come to Him with the love of our hearts, the devotion of our lives.
giving to the Church and to the poor is about expressing love to your God. if that means individually giving up on a frivolity, an amenity or even a necessity, then so be it. if that means making a lifestyle change, so be it. if that means continuing on in the course you are currently moving, so be it.
is the man who gives 2 gifts to his wife on Christmas more loving than the man who only gives 1? does the husband who spends the most automatically deserve the title of “better lover?” must we not look at the individual relationship, the individual thoughtfulness, the individual expression, the individual sacrifice?
our strength is not in the quantity of our accomplishments, but is in Jesus Christ alone. our only cause is Jesus Christ. as we read above, He is to consume our hearts, our strengths, our minds, our souls. how each Christian works out that love is where we derive ‘liberty.’ will all of us have common characteristics? absolutely. there is universal fruit, that being love. but love is manifested in a number of ways. some expressly listed in God’s word…and others that are just waiting to be discovered by those who have ears to hear and hearts to understand.
this is not a free pass. giving of your wealth is vital to your walk with the Almighty. it is as necessary as prayer and devotion. yet, it is a wonderfully freeing aspect of our faith. it causes unique growth and fills the heart with heaven, with a heavenly burden to give toward the work of Christ. it is immensely personal, thus there is much confusion over the application of the commandment. that is what i’m talking about. liberty means investing the resources God has given you in the best way you can. i can’t tell you what that means for you. i can’t tell you what the percentage or frequency is. i can tell you that it IS necessary, not by my own authority, but by the word of God.
God won’t makeus invest our funds, because that is not love. He will allow us to bury them in the groundi if that is what we choose to do, but it is the investment that draws us closer to the heart of the Master. it is the co-venturing He has established for us. in order to grow a crop we must plant, we must water and we must harvest. He has given us liberty to seek His counsel and His direction in when, how and to what extent we work out our growth, in this case our financial giving and support of the poor.
giving is about love. don’t turn it into an obligation. don’t turn it into an option. don’t turn it into anything other than what it is: the expression of love for God, love for His work in your life, love for the people of the earth. do you love God? giving of your wealth is a fruit of that love. holiness isn’t about checking items off of a list, it is a personal transformation that God works in the individual. when i stand before the Lord He won’t say, “did you do all the same things that your neighbor did to honor me?” because when all is said and done Christianity is about me and God, no one else. it’s about what love I had…what I invested…it’s about my love for my Divine Bridegroom.
all my philibustering means nothing if i don’t give you some practical application alongside my devotional application. so, now we get to the whole reason i started this series, the chief goal of my sharing.
giving is logistically pretty easy in this day and age and we must never neglect it. i would like to offer you the following ways to give to God and His work around the earth.
in no particular order:
- Compassion International – honestly, i don’t know a ton about compassion international, but i do know that it is a well-established, respected work of the Lord. i know that as you sponsor the children through this organization they are given the Gospel along with the relief of their physical needs.
if you want to know more about Compassion International, i recommend shaun groves. you can email him here.
- Samaritans’ Purse: Operation Christmas Child- this is an annual event that we love to participate in. you get a shoe box and fill it with hygiene products, candy, toys, school supplies and other items and they are sent to thousands of 3rd world children with the Gospel message in their own language. it is such a fun way to share grace with a child and a great way for a local church to come together to minister to people continents away. there is still time to get your boxes in (the 2nd week of november is the deadline), so if you would like to participate i’d be happy to direct you to a drop-off center, or, if you’re in my area we’d be happy to take your shoebox with the rest from our church.
if you can’t do a box, then you can pick one of these 48 ways to give a one time gift. from sheltering a family to fighting AIDS to buying clothing to curing tuberculosis…there is a choice for any budget. in fact, they let you decide how much you want to give! warm blankets for a cold family carries the suggested donation of $6, but you can type in any amount to help with the work around the world.
- Gospel For Asia – i have a real love for the work that GFA is doing. please visit my GFA page for more information about this ministry. for less than $30 a month you can support a native missionary. 100% of all funds that you donate to GFA goes to the field. 100%. that is amazing.
but, if you are unable to give each month, they have a host of one-time giving opportunities. you can do them all online at their store or donations page. we just got their Christmas catalogue and it is exciting to see what God can do with even a little bit of money.
$1 – buys VBS materials or 200 Gospel tracts for native missionaries to share
$3 – buys a Bible for a native missionary to give out
$4 – buys 8 New Testaments for missionaries to give out
$5 – buys a musical instrument for use in worship services or a blanket for a cold family
$10 – buys 2 rabbits or 2 chickens for a poor family to raise, breed, eat and sell
$24 – buys a kerosene lantern for villages without electricity
$25 – buys a bio water filter to clean the drinking water in an asian village
$35 – buys a battery powered radio so that villagers can listen to Christian broadcasts
$36 – buys a winter clothing pack for someone without jackets, boots, thermals or long-johns
$44 – buys 15 minutes of radio time for the Gospel to be preached
$50 – buys 2 pigs for an idigent family
$55 – buys a goat for milk, offspring and meat
$75 – buys a tool kit for planting a garden and maintaining crops
$80 – buys a sweing machine
$100 – buys a LED solar light system which will illuminate an area for 7 years
$105 – buys a bicycle for a native missionary, most who otherwise walk 10-15 miles in one day
$120 – buys a pair of lambs for wool, offspring and meat
$350 – buys a cow or a mobile PA system for outdoor evangelism and church services
$430 – buys a water buffalo for transportation, labor or milk
$1,000 – buys a motorbike that can carry 2 missionaries at a time
$1,500 – buys a LCD projector kit for showing evangelical films (which are included in the kit)
$1,700 – buys a generator for the LCD projector kit and for lights
$5,000 – buys a new house. A NEW HOUSE for a family that has lost their home
$11,000 – buys a new church building for believers to meet in. no joke.
$16,000 – buys a heavy-duty, jeep missionary vehicle
$20,000 – buys a fully equipped missionary vehicle complete with an indian film on the life of Christ, an LCD projector, a generator, a PA system, tracts, Bibles and flip charts
we can’t all give $20,000…but i’d be willing to bet that most of us have the flexibility to give $1.
Jesus Christ sacrificed His life for us while we were yet sinners. not out of anger or obligation, not out of self-righteousness, but out of love. He did so because somehow He is passionately in love with you and i.
our spiritual health is the most important issue in our lives. giving financially is an important part of that health. we are commanded to give, but we are not to be burdened. God loves a cheerful giver. God doesn’t desire a begrudged offering, He desires a gift of love. we are not obligated to give a specific amount or a specific way because God desires to offer us a more abundant life of searching Him out, trusting His leading and growing in His will.
may God bless you and keep you.
the interpretation
WHEN you pray :: WHEN you fast :: WHEN you givei
there’s no way around it; Christians are commanded to give of their wealth to the local church, to God’s work at large and, in our current discussion, to the poor, to support the poor, to help the poor and most importantly to share the Gospel with the poor. we’re commanded to interact in these sorts of ways with everyone, but especially with the poor.
Exodus 22:25
Exodus 23:11
Leviticus 19:10
Deuteronomy 15:7
Psalm 10:2
Proverbs 22:9
Isaiah 3:14
Ezekiel 22:29
Matthew 19:21
Luke 14:13
Galatians 2:10
…and many, many more reveal to us God’s heart for the impoverished people of the world. so what happens next?
that is where things get tricky. in Matthew 19:21 Jesus told a man that he should go and sell what he has and give it to the poor in order to be perfect. interestingly, in John 12 when the disciples were outraged that the costly oil was not sold for giving to the poor Jesus revealed that there was something higher happening, something more important than financial outreach. in fact He said, ‘the poor you will have with you always.’
what about the early church? barnabas sold some property and laid the proceeds at the feet of the apostles. if there was ever a need for financial assistance, this was it. but, when ananias and sapphira attempted to deceive the church into thinking they did the same thing, peter’s response was that they were under no obligation to sell the land at all!ii
James reminds us that faith without works is dead, but Paul reveals that, even if you give all you have to the poor, if it isn’t done in the love and the direction and the purpose of Christ, then it profits nothing!iii
so what about this area of liberty? (by the way, in case you are a bit confused in my word choice there are a few comments under part I that might clarify my terminology for you).
when and how we give is the issue. though the Bible is clear on the command (as it is on the command to ‘go and make disciples’) it gives liberty in the personal application of that command in our lives (as it does on the command to ‘go and make disciples’).
we in america have an incredible amount of wealth (notwithstanding that we all have struggles, struggles that are important to God, and notwithstanding that relatively some of us may have less wealth than other Christians around us).
we must take the utmost care in determining God’s plan for our finances. in doing so we get to experience a lifelong pursuit of God’s heart.
think of the parable of the talentsiv . one servant did nothing with his talent…he invested nothing for his master. he was not rewarded but rebuked.
another servant invested 5 talents and was rewarded.
a third servant invested 2 talents and was also rewarded.
these 2 servants received the same reward because of their faithfulness, not rewarded in proportion to the yield of their investment. the servant who ended up with 10 talents was not greater or MORE of a servant than he who ended up with 4 talents.
investing in God’s work is essential, but our investment plans will vary as each man is led and stirred up by the indwelling Holy Spirit.
there are some obstacles along the way, that, as stated before, lead to imbalance in this area. i have (somewhat sarcastically) divided a few of the obstacles up into 3 camps::
camp #1 – ‘you’re not allowed to buy anything’
in my opinion, this group is quantity oriented. though their foundation is excellent: we need to give to the poor, they inevitably become Pharisaical in their approach to the issue. though they may not mean to come off as dogmatic and accusatory, in reality this is what happens as they place the convictions they have in their own lives onto others.
in this camp there are things that every Christian must do and there are things that every Christian must NOTdo. there are things that NO Christian can buy (most recently, the iPhone was the whipping boy for this group), yet there is little agreement on what organization(s) every Christian MUST support in order to be a REAL Christian.
lots of numbers end up getting thrown around; you can only buy this much of a car, you can only pay this much for clothes, etc. God’s plan for the church in their mind is to spread the Gospel through alleviating financial suffering.
my issue with this stance is this: what are the guidelines? i fully agree that in my own personal life probably shouldn’t pay $60,000 for a car…but what about $20,000? what about 2 cars that each cost $8,000? what about owning a car at all? is the man with the $2,000 car more ‘spiritual’ or more Godly than the man with the $2,100 car?
what about haircuts? are we allowed to pay for a haircut when we could do it ourselves? how much is too much? $30? $10?
what about food? can i go to peets for a cup of coffee? can i buy healthier food even though it costs more and that excess could’ve gone to feed the hungry somewhere in the world?
what about my computer? can a Christian really pay $2,000 for a macbookpro? can they pay $1,100 for a macbook? can they pay for webspace and blog design? where is the line and how was it drawn?
i think we see what i’m getting at…where is the magic list that determines how much a REAL Christian gives of his or her income? mustn’t the answer must be that we have the liberty to give out of the abundance of our hearts through the personal direction of the Holy Spirit?
conjecture aside, when i turn to the Bible i do see that Jesus spoke incredibly often about finances and giving, with a lot of practical ways of doing so. however, there are a lot of gaps in how we are to approach each and every dollar we make. camp #1 often speaks in ways that indicates that financial giving is the primary purpose of the Church and of individual Christians. if our PRIMARY goal is to give finances to the impoverished people in our communities and the world, then why didn’t Jesus simply perform a miracle of financial blessing? did Jesus ever perform a miracle that put money into the pockets of the poor? if Jesus’ PRIMARY message was debt relief and economic socialism, then why did He pass by the crippled man from Acts 3 day in and day out as He entered into the temple?
the end result of this camp’s position produces a logical conclusion that anything that is not a necessity must be sinful. if this is your viewpoint, Godspeed, but i think that when you step back from it and evaluate the thesis, it is impossible to indicate what is required and what is not. to me, the quantifying of percentages and amounts that REAL Christians give is a legalism that God does not want for His people.
give it time…the circle will complete.
camp #2 – ‘don’t ever tell me what i can’t buy!’
there is another very vocal group in this debate: camp #2. as illustrated by the lobby lady over at mr. groves’ blog, proponents of this viewpoint are quick to defend any amount of indulgence or frivolity in the name of ‘blessing.’ in this camp we’re all just lucky we weren’t born in india or the congo and tough luck for anyone who was. after all, ’God works in mysterious ways, so i bought a hummer h3.’ some will even go as far as saying that wealth is achieved through faith, thus anyone who lacks wealth must not have enough faith to earn it from God.
this camp sees NO conceivable problem in buying a $60,000 car, a $1.5 million house, a $200 pair of pants, etc, and in doing so they become militant in their defense of their lifestyle. *the rest of this paragraph was added for clarity after the first round of comments. does that mean that $60,000/$1.5 million/$200 is the cutoff point? of course not. i simply mean that using the common sense and Holy Spirit that God has given us, these sorts of numbers should probably at least beg the question of ”should i buy this?”
it isn’t the dollar amount they are spending that is ’wrong’ necessarily, but the failure to evaluate their activities. they don’t believe in excess, only in ‘blessing’.
the problem here is that, like the rich young rulerv , the less we give away the more bound we are to our money and possessions. the less we give to the poor the more we learn to ignore the poor, to ignore suffering and to push the convictions of the Spirit out of our hearts and thoughts. this camp creates hard hearts that lack compassion and lack a necessary component of Christian living.
they can’t imagine a Christian not praying, for example, but they become Christians who do not give. thus, the faith becomes unbalanced.
Jesus said, WHEN you pray, WHEN you fast, WHEN you give. yes, the poor we will have with us always, but we must not forget that many of the judgements leveled against the people of Israel and Judah were connected with their neglect and abuse of the poor! Ezekiel 16 even notes that one of God’s judgements on the city of Sodom was because of their refusal to strengthen the poor and the needy!
camps #1 and #2 are the polar opposites of the spectrum. a burdensome legalism on one side, an anything-goes gluttony on the other. and then there is the third…
camp #3 – ‘i don’t even think about what i buy’
this is one of the great dangers of faith: thoughtlessness. hordes of Christians choose to live their lives on auto-pilot. the same routines, the same services, the same everything. they believe things, but they don’t always know what they believe. they have assumptions, but they aren’t always worked out. there is faith, but there is a lack of fear and trembling.vi
this camp becomes inadvertently careless about the strife in the greater world. these people might not know that their money can make a difference, but they might not care even if they did.
this type of faith is a tragedy when we realize that God created a universe, a time, a community, a purpose and a body, soul and spirit for each of us. He has gone to great lengths and depths to speak to us, to call us, to interact with us, to grow us and to USE us for His purposes. thoughtless faith is wasted faith.
another great danger here is being swept away by the influence of the world, the pull of the sin nature and the loss of spiritual vision.
fear and trembling. faith and works. loving God and neighbor. when, not if.
i am so glad that i’ve been able to spend some time in 3rd world nations like honduras and peru where shoes are not a given and clean food is not a staple. i believe that every Christian who is able should travel at least once to a place in the world where people have nothing and minister with them in their communities. it is one of the most healthy things a Christian can do.
herein lies the struggle. i live in middle-class america. i have a job, a car, shoes, clean water, glasses, a cell phone, an ipod and countless other necessities/amenities/frivolities that make up my physical life on the earth. some were given as gifts, some were purchased by me. when and how much do i give to the Church? to Christian organizations? to homeless people on street corners? though, for example, my ipod was a gift, should i sell it and give the proceeds away?
God is not a God of confusion, so in areas where Biblical interpretation is ‘gray’ we must trust in our Creator, our Lover, to guide us and direct us into those things He knows are best for us and best for His will on the earth.
here’s what else we know about our money from scripture (just a few for time’s sake):
- we need to support the poor locally and around the world (see above)
- we need to give to the local church.vii
- we need to be generous with others.viii
- God is a gift-giver, both spiritually and physically.ix
i think the answer of when and how we give is hidden within those ideas…
next time: the application.
the observation
In Essentials: Unity, In Non-Essentials: Liberty, In All Things: Charity.
the holiday season is upon us and i couldn’t be happier. though many criticize this time of year, i say why not apply it to your life as a special time of expressing love, affection and thankfulness both to the people around you and to your Creator?
however, christmas specifically is an interesting time for many Christians like me because our finances and material possessions are put into such focus and prominence. in truth, there are a lot of questions raised by Christians about how to spend money, what to buy and what not to buy throughout the year.
evangelicals land all over the map on wealth-philosophy. there are always discussions and arguements over what is acceptable and what is not. most recently the iPhone created the biggest stir within the Christian-wealth debate, with many good points made on either ‘side’ of the predictable arguement.
now, before you read on, i don’t mean to put down anyone. i know i disclaimer a lot on these sorts of posts, but it is only because i take burdening God’s people and representing God’s character very seriously. i never want to burden a reader with my own conviction, yet i want to represent God the best way i can, by highlighting His love, His romance, His incredibly personal attachment to the hearts of His people and His desperate desire to save the lost. with this post series, i only want to observe an issue and then share my own personal convictions, ideas and applications about said issue. finances and personal spending is very touchy issue, even within the Christian community.
with that said, we can continue.
i find that there are several camps that we can identify here (if we generalize a bit): #1, the ‘you’re not allowed to buy anything’ camp, #2, the ‘don’t ever tell me what i can’t buy’ camp and #3, the ‘i don’t even think about what i buy’ camp. though none of these positions would write those titles on their mission statement, i think that the practical approaches of their viewpoints usually end up at least coming off dogmatic and at worst alienating other approaches to God’s plan for our money.
to me that post is a good example of where different people are coming from. now, i wouldn’t for a second ‘relate’ with the lobby lady, she has squarley placed herself in the ’don’t ever tell me what i can’t buy’ camp, but i also can not fully align the opposite end of the spectrum (for reasons i will elaborate on later). the problems of faith most often have to do with balance: balancing our current situations with the teachings of the Bible and the leading of the Holy Spirit. i was born into america with its wealth and rights. i was born again into a relationship with Jesus Christ, into a new reality of living.
so now i live with God in the world. in america. in middle-class america. my Father in heaven placed me here for a reason and with a purpose and it is my great joy to discover what that purpose is each day of my life. He has called me to serve Him in general and specific ways. some common mistakes i am prone to make is either to forget God’s character or to forget the impoverished masses around the earth. another mistake i am prone to make is forcing my personal convictions on all other believers. both are easy to do, both are errors. how we spend money is an area where these and other mistakes become even easier to make.
this is the observation of the issue. where should we stand? what can we buy? what can’t we buy? that is what the next 2 posts (the application and the interpretation) will address. if you do not have the luxury of reading those other posts, let me save you some time and tell you that what you can buy is between you and God. how much you give and where you give it is also between you and God. though there are some principles that we can clearly see in Scripture, no other Christian can tell you what you must and must not do (within reason) in this area as an individual.
this series is meant to tell you what i think about this issue and to give you some real, practical ways that you can give to God. for those who are in doubt, the point of this series is to encourage giving, to encourage Christians to reach out to those masses around the earth who are less fortunate than we are. as we do, let’s be careful to not burden the believers around us in areas of liberty.
hence, the top quote: In Essentials: Unity, In Non-Essentials: Liberty, In All Things: Charity.
postscript – PLEASE come back and visit the application post (part III) when it is finished. it is the whole point of these words.
thanks for visiting
© 2012. Jesus Is Extravagant
